Culture Wars in Regional Australia

IT IS WELL WITHIN living memory, and keenly remembered, that after a long motoring trip across the New England Tablelands of New South Wales, travellers would drive up to the imposing façade of the Armidale Teachers College, on the crest of its hill overlooking that picturesque city which might once have become capital of the Australian state of New England. Indeed, this building could have been its state parliament. Once inside, the cool foyer was a welcome refuge from the heat of the summer sun on the Tablelands; or, if it was in winter, a cosy, warm and welcoming place, with a thoughtful attendant there to greet you.

It was the home of the pride of the City of Armidale: the Howard Hinton Art Collection. The walls and corridors were hung with a collection of Australian art, mostly of the more “traditional” kind, unrivalled in any other regional gallery within hundreds of miles. This special matrix of the college and the art collection housed in it was a joint creation of S.H. Smith, Director of Education, the New South Wales Minister for Education David Drummond MLA (and later MHR for New England from 1949 to 1965), and the art donor Howard Hinton OBE (1867–1948).

At the top of the stairs inside stood the Sydney sculptor Rayner Hoff’s portrait bust in bronze of Hinton, who was perhaps Australia’s most generous, prolific and consistent art benefactor in the period from 1929 to 1949. Set into the wall nearby—and still there to be seen under protective glass—was and is a fine sculptural plaster panel in bas relief by Hoff, with its lapidary Greek inscriptions and its simple but universal theme.

At once you knew that this was a place imbued with a spirit not only classical, but also intensely human and humane. Not all institutions of teacher training so impress a visitor. Indeed, in those years (say 1970), even the universities with significant art collections on permanent gallery display were still relatively few. The work of the more culturally aware of the vice-chancellors, such as Sir Zelman Cowen’s fostering of an Art Museum at the University of Queensland, whilst already seen in Melbourne and Sydney, was yet to arrive in the north.

The Armidale Teachers College building was constructed by 1930, at a cost of some £98,000, in the impressively monumental style favoured for major public buildings in Australia and elsewhere in the then British dominions during the reign of King George V. It was built to a high standard, in both externals and interior finishes, such as parquetry flooring, with long corridors lit by very large studio windows. The building itself has in recent years been “heritage listed” and it is now in the care of the University of New England (UNE), that other important Australian educational institution at Armidale, established in 1954 in succession to the former University College founded at Armidale in 1938. A strong public-spirited coalition of Old Collegians, university people such as UNE’s immediate past Vice-Chancellor Professor Ingrid Moses and others, as well as many Armidale and New England citizens, have come together in a concerted effort to save and preserve the college building. It is now occupied by the New England Conservatorium of Music and it is much in demand for musical performances and events.

But what of that very fine and extensive collection of pictures given to Armidale by Howard Hinton over the last twenty years of his life? It is, after all, still at the centre of the City of Armidale’s cultural patrimony. The paintings, more than 1000 oils and watercolours, were taken down from the picture rails in the college’s long, high corridors in the early 1980s and placed in the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM). This is a smaller, contemporary-styled building at the foot of the hill and behind the college.

The great majority of the Hinton pictures are stored away at NERAM, although on Wednesday afternoons or at other times by special appointment, one may view all or some of them mounted upon wire gallery storage racks. From time to time, some of the Hinton pictures are exhibited in the main gallery at NERAM or, as was the case more recently, a goodly selection was packed up and sent on tour around Australia. This has had the effect of raising the profile of the Hinton Art Collection somewhat once more. It has been a collection loved and admired by many for decades; and especially by those for whom it was the closest regional collection of Australian art. Indeed, it is one of the most significant of such collections in this country.

Residents of New England and of all northern New South Wales were and are naturally proud of the Hinton Collection and frequently visited it, and much more regularly when it was exhibited in the college. Art-loving visitors from southern Queensland and other interstate travellers heading for Sydney by car and pausing in Armidale overnight would, once, invariably take the time to visit the Hinton Collection. Their reward was refreshment, admiration and justified pride that the effort had been made, first by Hinton as benefactor to the Australian public and then by the college and city authorities, to exhibit and present this great collection in readily accessible fashion, and in such a magnificent setting.

Anyone who doubts this should experience an aeroplane flight over the City of Armidale in the middle of an autumn afternoon—the sun glints off the slate roofs of the college on its hill and you might for a moment think you were looking at the roofs of old Nuremberg, with Durer “graving at his plates of iron” within. It is truly magnificent; go there and see it. It is less likely that travellers and visitors see much of Hinton’s collection today, when it is now, unfortunately, far less immediately accessible—and also hardly, if ever, exhibited to the public in its entirety.

When the removal of the pictures from the college (and ultimately to NERAM) was first mooted, it was argued (as is often the case in such instances) that the move was justified or even necessitated on the basis of the conservation needs of the collection, particularly its many watercolours. It was urged that the Hinton Collection’s continued housing in the college building had become a problem from this and also other standpoints. One wonders, however, whether any such problems could, in a generous spirit, have been relatively easily surmounted—and at only modest expense. Whilst we must be grateful that both the college building and the Hinton Art Collection have been, for the time being at least, both preserved in their integrity, it is a matter of great regret that the pure magic of this collection’s presentation in the college building, in which Hinton expressly intended his collection to reside, is lost. It need not be permanently so. Even allowing for “funding issues” (to use the voguish terms) it ought not to be beyond wise and prudent minds to effect the return of the pictures to their former magnificent setting in the college and on exhibition.

Australia’s cultural heritage and patrimony in the visual arts is by no means confined to the capital cities. There are many significant regional galleries and other public collections in the regions, such as the Hinton Collection, which are no less a vital part of our heritage. There is a venerable tradition of benefaction to galleries and other public collections in the regions. Howard Hinton’s benefactions are perhaps the single most remarkable and admirable of these public-spirited gestures by true art connoisseurs. It would be a great misjudgment and disservice to our artistic heritage in Australia, if the fact that the Hinton Collection is of a largely (and indeed unashamedly) traditional and “conservative” nature were to be seen or used as a reason for its remaining less accessible to the public, in an appropriate permanent exhibition setting, than it should be.

IN 1951, THE YEAR of the Commonwealth of Australia’s golden jubilee, and just three years after Howard Hinton’s death in 1948, a handsome and well-produced book, in large hardback format, entitled Howard Hinton: Patron of Art was published by Angus & Robertson. It was made possible by generous private subscriptions of £500 from some private art lovers in memory and admiration of Hinton and his collection. It also served to document and catalogue the entire collection and to celebrate its scope and richness. The book has many fine colour plates and half-tone illustrations. It features an essay on Hinton by C.B. Newling, first Principal of the Armidale Teachers College, an essay on the Hinton Collection by John Fountain, together with an introductory essay by Norman Lindsay, who knew Hinton well. The catalogue is a complete listing of the collection as donated by Hinton, including some comments by him. There are catalogues of the collection of art prints he donated to Smith House, a residence hall affiliated with the Armidale Teachers College; and of works he donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Speaking for the moment just of the original art works—mainly the oils and watercolours—the Hinton Collection is remarkable in its scope, its quality and its thoughtfulness. The Armidale Dumaresq Shire Council is reported as having, in 2004, voted to NERAM some funds for the preparation of a new “visual and written catalogue of the Hinton Collection”, but a recent enquiry of NERAM did not produce any information about such a new catalogue having been issued yet, other than maybe a version for the touring show.

One notes from the 1951 catalogue that Hinton’s collection includes, amongst many other good things: four works by Tom Roberts, three by Charles Conder, five by J.J. Hilder, fifteen by Sir Arthur Streeton, three by Walter Withers, eight by George Lambert, thirteen by Elioth Gruner, nine by Sir Hans Heysen, two by Hilda Rix Nicholas, five by Nora Heysen, eleven by Margaret Coen, two by Margaret Preston, two by Thea Proctor, fifteen by Arthur Murch, seven by Lloyd Rees, six by Roland Wakelin, three by Cav. Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo, two by Albert Namatjira, four by H. Septimus Power, and many works by four of the Lindsay brothers (Daryl, Sir Lionel, Norman and Percy). Whilst the collection is predominantly of works more or less traditional in style and subject matter, modernist Australian painters are represented—Wakelin and Rees are examples. There are also the oil Carnival and a good portrait of S.H. Smith by Sir William Dobell.

In 1951, John Fountain wrote that the collection included most “artist[s] of consequence from Buvelot till today”. Moderns are under-represented, as are Melbourne artists, but then Howard Hinton was a Sydney resident. Even so, the collection still ranges fairly broadly across the history of Australian art before 1948; and it includes works by about 350 artists, Australian as well as European.

It is beyond dispute that the Hinton is a collection of considerable artistic significance. On the occasion of the exhibition “Focus on the Hinton Collection”, which toured Australia in 1980, organised by the Visual Arts Board, it was justly noted by Joanna Mendelssohn that “The collection made by Howard Hinton has been for many years an almost legendary part of Australia’s cultural history and a pilgrimage to Armidale, New South Wales, where it was housed, has been a necessity for any serious student of Australian art.” Further, “one of the great strengths of the Hinton Collection is its reminder that a good work by a minor artist can be more interesting than a mediocre effort by a famous name”. Some, like Bernard Smith, call the collection “uneven” but others such as Joseph Eisenberg have noted the simple fact that Hinton’s taste was “eclectic”.

One myth about Hinton that must be firmly rebutted is the view he was a mere traditionalist of limited aesthetic experience, wedded to the Australian pastoral school. In fact, as C.B. Newling noted in the 1951 book, from a very early age Hinton had visited all the major European galleries and had even ventured as far as the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Howard Hinton and his collection are duly remembered in Newling’s autobiography The Long Day Wanes (1973) and also by E.S. Elphick in his essay “Howard Hinton and his Bequest” (1982).

Copies of the 1951 book on Howard Hinton and his collection, in its period light purple dustjacket, still occasionally turn up in the second-hand book trade around Australia and especially in New South Wales. It would be a very good thing if someone were to find a way to re-issue it in a new edition, with all the detailed catalogue entries and all the illustrations, including the existing colour plates and perhaps some more for good measure.

WITH THE RECENT refurbishment of its large central auditorium, the Armidale Teachers College building is now the venue for many musical performances and other cultural events. It ought not to be too difficult, nor prohibitively expensive, to return the Hinton Collection to the college building, which is a much more sympathetic setting for the permanent exhibition of it than the present limited situation at NERAM. NERAM also houses a collection of Australian contemporary artworks donated by another great Sydney collector and benefactor, Chandler Coventry. It is more in tune with the setting of a contemporary-style art museum building such as that of NERAM. The Hinton pictures would fit much better into their former home at the college, where they would undoubtedly remain a strong visitor drawcard for Armidale and the New England region. In addition, the collection thus permanently displayed would be more accessible to the students and academic staff of the UNE in Armidale. It could, indeed, become a teaching resource for a UNE Fine Arts School.

More recently, however, there has arisen an issue in relation to the Howard Hinton Collection which has caused much (and sharp) debate. This was a proposal for a half-sharing of the Tom Roberts 1894 oil Mossman’s Bay, for long a jewel in the Hinton Collection and something of an “iconic image” (as the cant phrase is) in Australian art history. This proposal has divided opinions. It seems the Art Gallery of New South Wales wants the half-share, and the City of Armidale (Armidale Dumaresq Shire Council), who apparently took over the trust arrangements for the Hinton Collection some years ago, is willing to sell. The argument is that this could perhaps help “fund” the Hinton Collection’s conservation and its future. However, once one starts out on the path of so diminishing such a collection, how far has the process to go before the integrity and representative nature and scope of the collection are lost? First a Tom Roberts today, then tomorrow a Streeton or two … This affair reminds one of the wrangle between London and Dublin over Sir Hugh Lane’s collection, recorded by Dr Thomas Bodkin in Hugh Lane and His Pictures.

Last year these issues came to a head in proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The Armidale Dumaresq Council sought the court’s sanction or permission for the proposed arrangement with the Art Gallery of New South Wales in respect of Mossman’s Bay. The Attorney-General for New South Wales gave approval for the litigation, but took no side in it. The case came before the Honourable Justice Peter Young, Chief Judge in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court. The Judge allowed the Friends of the Old Teachers College to be joined in the proceedings and the Friends duly made submissions through counsel. The court examined the nature of the Hinton bequest and made various interesting observations on the history of the collection and its housing and exhibition, but declined to grant the permission sought. One important point noted was that the terms of the trust established as to the Hinton Collection clearly require that it shall remain used “at Armidale”. It is understood that there have since been discussions with a view to a proposal that the UNE might take over the obligations of the trust relating to the Hinton Collection, in the place of the Armidale Dumaresq Council. That the UNE now has the Armidale Teachers College building at its disposal might assist matters. The matter is still before the court.

Most recently, there has been a positive move by way of an excellent exhibition, curated by Barry Pearce (Curator of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales) of a selection of the Hinton pictures. It is currently on show at NERAM and whilst the number of pictures is relatively small, it is a fine selection and so an exhibition of high quality. It makes one wonder why the Hinton Collection has been much less visible at least as a total collection since about the early 1980s.

THERE MAY BE some subtexts discernible, not so much in relation to the half-sharing of the Roberts picture, but more generally as to earlier twists and turns of the Hinton Collection saga. It will not have escaped the notice of discerning readers of the 1951 book that most of the works in Howard Hinton’s collection donated to Armidale are traditional; and that he was an English-born immigrant to Australia, who worked his way up in the merchant shipping business from clerk to director. He was Australian by his long residence, having arrived here in 1892.

However, not only is his collection fairly conservative, but he even included in the works donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales a drawing by Sir Alfred Munnings KCVO PRA (1878–1959) one of the most beloved and “Edwardian” of the English sports and equestrian painters, a very conservative artist indeed. The collection of colour prints Hinton donated to Smith College in Armidale includes some memorable equestrian pictures by Munnings. Munnings is famous, or notorious, depending upon one’s perspective, for two things. The first was his speech as President of the Royal Academy in 1949 in which he roundly denounced “modernism” in art; and the second was his picture entitled Does the Subject Matter? which so annoyed the bien-pensants of the English art scene when shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1956. Munnings’ speech was recorded by the BBC and it is still extant.

Moreover, note that Howard Hinton was a close friend of Norman Lindsay. Lindsay, despite his muchtouted “bohemianism” was an artistic conservative in his techniques and training and also somewhat reactionary in politics. He was and is certainly not much favoured by the party of modernism. Indeed, in some circles of contemporary Australian art appreciation, his name is barely mentionable, with much reference to his vivid piratical watercolours and the like: at once dramatic, old-fashioned, romantic and a virtuoso in his handling of that medium. Indeed, Lindsay’s reputation today suffers from a contemporary version of the “wowserism” which he saw in the rather puritanical and provincial Australia of his own time.

One may wonder whether such associations have placed Hinton’s collection under some sort of shadow within certain art circles. If so, these factors, along with a general perception of conservatism in art, may well have combined with the noisy and much brasher “contemporary” outlook since the 1960s in Australian art circles, to marginalise Hinton’s donation. To this extent, the fate of the Hinton Collection and its removal from the prominence that it once had when exhibited in the Armidale Teachers College, may be yet another unfortunate artefact of the “culture wars” in Australia.

As Waugh so aptly put it in Brideshead Revisited, in another, but broadly similar, context: “in sudden frost, came the age of Hooper … Quomodo sedet sola civitas”. One thing is certain—the general public of Armidale and the New England region, as well as many interested Australians farther afield, would be likely to welcome the return of the Howard Hinton Art Collection to its old redoubt in the college building on the hill at Armidale. It is sad indeed that, in recent years, only a small “corner” display along with two digital reproductions of paintings and some brochures noting Hinton and his benefactions, are all that are to be seen of Hinton at the college building today. This is not to criticise the excellent work of the Friends of the Old Teachers College, who have at least ensured these few remembrances of Hinton. However, it is odd that other authorities with funds have not done much more to commemorate Hinton and his public benefactions. Apart that is, from preserving the two large stainedglass windows at the eastern end of the college building, also donated by Hinton and designed by Norman Carter. These windows complement another large secular stained-glass window still to be seen in Armidale, namely, the “General Gordon” window in “Booloominbah” the homestead designed in 1887 by John Horbury Hunt for the White family and now housing UNE’s Chancelry and Offices.

The story of Howard Hinton and his art collection at Armidale is but one of some interesting minor dramas in Australian history—political, cultural and academic— that have played out at Armidale, that rather tranquil and attractive university city. These include the New England Separate State Movement from the 1920s and then later; the wrangling over recent decades about the former Armidale Teachers College building and the Howard Hinton Art Collection formerly housed there; as well as, on the academic front, the unfortunate experiences of religious and intellectual prejudices which were endured there by one of Australia’s major classical scholars, Dr Frank Letters, and recounted by his widow, the late Kathleen Letters, who died in July 2006, in her book entitled History Will Out.

These three dramas were not merely minor local or regional “storms in teacups”. They reflect serious issues in Australia’s political, cultural and intellectual history during the twentieth century, the significance of which remains with us even now, and which ought to be of concern to all who value the benefits of individual freedom, cultural achievements and scholarship.

Dr Hassall is a barrister who was born in northern New South Wales. A fully footnoted version of this article is available from the Quadrant office.